Ted Cruz Condemns Donald Trump for His Use of Eminent Domain

Attacked first in a Donald J. Trump ad, Senator Ted Cruz swiftly responded on Friday with a commercial assailing Mr. Trump over his real estate background.

On Screen

“Eminent domain,” a woman’s voice declares sneeringly, then defines the process as “a fancy term for politicians seizing private property to enrich the fat cats who bankroll them. Like Trump.” In the background, a bulldozer seems to carve through a row of old apartment houses, while wads of cash pile up suggestively. A photo of Mr. Trump leaning toward a camera and smiling slyly introduces a clip of Mr. Trump professing, “I think eminent domain is wonderful.”

“It made him rich,” the narrator says, as magazine covers proclaim Mr. Trump “King of New York” and show him wearing garish gold rings and chains. Decades-old photos provide the backdrop — including one of Mr. Trump leading around a group of men in suits, some of whose faces are redacted — as the voice-over says he “colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow for a limousine parking lot at his casino.” The widow herself is shown saying, “He doesn’t have no heart, that man.”

The ad wraps up with a picture of Mr. Trump, waving from his limousine’s window: “He won’t change the system,” the narrator says. “He’s what’s wrong with it.”

The Message

Mr. Trump is no outsider. Lumping him with insiders and limousines indicts him on charges of crony capitalism. And eminent domain is anathema to many conservatives, who see it as an excess of government power that defiles the sanctity of private property. Mr. Trump’s calling it “wonderful” bolsters Mr. Cruz’s argument that deep down, Mr. Trump is part of the establishment, a fan of big government, or both.

The ad is reminiscent of those from 2012 that attacked Mitt Romney over his work for Bain Capital, the private equity firm. The story of the elderly widow depicts Mr. Trump as a callous businessman willing to crush anyone standing in the way of his greed.

Fact Check

Mr. Trump’s use of eminent domain did not make him rich. He was born rich.

The tale of the widow, Vera Coking, has been recirculating for months. The “insiders” the ad cites were the members of New Jersey’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which offered Mrs. Coking $250,000 for her house — a quarter of what she said she had been offered years earlier — before moving to condemnation proceedings.

After an extended battle, Mrs. Coking won and kept her home; it was not, despite the ad’s suggestion, bulldozed. In fact, Mrs. Coking lived to see Mr. Trump relinquish his control over the casino.

Where

The ad will air in early primary states, according to the Cruz campaign.

Takeaway

That Mr. Trump is a businessman is not exactly a state secret, but this ad portrays his gains as ill-gotten, at least in the eyes of true conservatives. And Mrs. Coking’s denunciation powerfully warns Republican voters that there is much they may not yet know about his background.